A couple who took their children on holiday during the school term have wound up in court.

West Berkshire Council prosecuted the pair for failing to send their 15-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter to school for a week in September 2010.

The legal representative for the council, Leigh Hogan, also asked for £2,500 in costs to be awarded against the couple, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

The mum and dad aged, aged 41 and 33 respectively, from Calcot, have three children and gained permission for their youngest – in primary school – to go on holiday.

They asked for permission for the other two but did not receive a response from the school before they set off. When they returned they found they had been a given a fixed penalty fine of £50 for each child.

Miss Hogan told Reading magistrates they failed to pay the fine within the 28-day period and then incurred a second higher fine of £200, which they also failed to pay.

She pointed out the older child was due to take his GCSEs last summer and so had missed school in an important year.

Adonis Daniel, defending, pointed out the Education Act of 1996 was not meant for parents like the couple in question and said all their children had good attendance records.

The daughter currently had an attendance record of 100 per cent and the son of 94 per cent.

He said it was wrong “that these two people had to go through this”.

He described the prosecution as “abhorrent” and a “sledgehammer to crack a nut”.

Mr Daniel explained the parents always took their one week’s holiday in September because the father found it difficult to take time off work in August.

He said they were unaware of the school’s new policy involving fixed penalty notices for unauthorised absences. Now they knew about it, they had not taken their holiday in September this year.

Mr Daniel asked for an absolute discharge for the parents, but magistrates instead gave them both a conditional discharge for six months and did not award the council any costs.